Backcountry Rise
About this race
Welcome to a majestic backcountry rising from the ashes of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. With its sapphire lakes, rugged, toothy peaks and wildflower-blanketed slopes, the Mt. Margaret Backcountry on the northern blast zone side of the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument provides an unforgettably unique, remote and beautiful trail race experience. The power and resilience of Mother Nature is truly on full display here in the backcountry.
Backcountry Rise includes three different challenging and remote trail loop courses: a 50K a 20-Miler and Half Marathon on Saturday. The 50K and 20 miler offer big climbs, sweeping descents and stunning ridgeline views of the surrounding Cascade Volcanoes. The Half Marathon is the classic loop around Coldwater Lake. High mountain lakes, rushing creeks and abundant wildlife dot the landscape, including resident mountain goats, elk, deer, bear, cougar, soaring raptors and many more.
Land Acknowledgement: We recognize that we gather for this event on the traditional, unceded lands of the Cowlitz people who have occupied and stewarded these lands for countless generations. We respect their right to self-determination and their sacred connection to these lands and waters.
Pick your distance
Trail running
50K
Half-Marathon
20-Miler
Typical race-day weather
Based on 3 years of Open-Meteo archive data for this event's race dates in Toutle, plus the 3 days either side.
The sun rises at 6:28 AM and sets at 7:55 PM local time (PDT) in Toutle on August 29, 2026 — 13h 27m of daylight.
Course
No course map published yet.
The organizer hasn't released a route for this event, and we don't publish guesses. If you're the organizer, send us a GPX file and we'll draw the profile.
Reviews
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2026 results — Backcountry Rise
312 finishers across 3 distances · leading places in the 50K
| Place | Name | Time | Pace |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Niles Desmarais | 5:11:51 | 10:03 /mi |
| 2 | Brooke Hill (Deans) | 5:18:28 | 10:16 /mi |
| 3 | Tim Bedford | 5:45:35 | 11:08 /mi |
| 4 | Kealan McNally | 5:45:51 | 11:08 /mi |
| 5 | John Dore | 5:51:22 | 11:19 /mi |
Every finisher is on the results page, filterable by distance, gender and age group.
All results by year
Other races near Toutle
Different organizers, within 40 miles, in the next three months
Where this page comes from. Race details were last updated on . We re-check listings regularly and again in the week before race day.
- Entries, prices, waves and inclusions — the event's official registration page
- Temperature and humidity — Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis via Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0)
- Elevation and terrain relief — Copernicus DEM GLO-90, ESA (CC BY 4.0)
- Comparisons and counts — Race Discovery calendar, 1 Toutle event
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